Having been mostly focussed on honing competitive lists, speed-painting beardy armies and getting in as many practice games as possible recently, it was a breath of fresh air to do some gaming purely for fun. Not that I don't enjoy the competitive side of things - quite the contrary! - but it's fun to try something different now and then. I haven't played many team games but they've always proved entertaining, and playing on a saturday makes things so much more relaxed time-wise.
Rather than rolling for a mission, we unanimously agreed that an objective-based mission with Pitched Battle Deployment would be the most fun. 5 objectives went down, and Alan and I won the roll-off to choose first or second turn. Though I tend to prefer going second in objective missions, Alan seemed keen to go first, and when I thought about I didn't reckon 'da boyz' would want to wait for second turn either! We set up our Boyz behind the sizeable Kan wall, with our fast wing under cover of one of our trusty Kustom Force Field to our left flank. Steve and Paul kept most of their force in reserve, deciding to see where the fighting was going to be thickest before committing the entire army to the fight. With battle-lines drawn, Steve thought he might as well have a go at Seizing the Initiative...
...And rolled a 6! The Marines had bagged first turn! A land raider filled with Thunderstorm Terminators and a Terminator Librarian led the advance on our right flank, while the fire support units on the left opened up on our Trukks. Thanks to the Kustom Force Field, the Marines' Turn 1 ended with all the Trukks on the left flank intact, and only one kan lost! Da Boyz were now raring to go, bellowing and whooping as they surged forward to get stuck in!! 
WAAAGH!!! It was Turn 2 before we hit the Marine lines, with a decisive assault from Alan's Kommandoes who used their Outflank move to get in amongst one of the Predators on the left flank, and some not-quite-so-decisive assaults from my Trukk-boyz. One hit a Devastator squad, who survived and stood firm for another turn; while another managed a nifty double-assault on another Predator tank and a Dreadnought. We managed to pop the Predator, but the combat with the Dread would rage on for the rest of the game, much to everyone's amusement as the combatants swung ineffectually at each other round after round!! Alan's Battlewagon with its deff-rolla was proved a rather more effective weapon, pulling off a multiple Ram and Tank shock move that chewed through Tactical Marines, tanks and a Dreadnought!
On the left flank we knew things were going to get messy once the Terminators got out of their Land Raider - and they didn't dissappoint. By this time a full squad of Assault Marines with their Chaplain had also arrived to support their brethren. Confident we had enough boyz to repel such an attack we flung unit after unit into what became a meat grinder in the middle of the table! As the turns went on the Orks ground down the elite assault units, and were left free to move onto the objectives. But there always seemed to be more coming in from reserve, and they saved the best for last!
In a final twist, 15 Terminators teleported in behind the Ork lines and opened fire with their Assault cannons and storm bolters on Turn 4. Steve and Paul had a good chuckle as they watched Alan and I do an 'about face' with pretty much every model on the table to meet this new threat - Get 'em boyz!! Intimidating as the Terminators were, they weren't quite enough to turn the green tide and victory went to the Orks - good job ladz! What better way to spend a saturday than having a proper scrap with the Imperium's finest?!So a good game was had by all. What's great about big games is that there are always memorable moments, like the dramatic arrival of the Terminators towards the end, or the seemingly unstoppable Deff Rolla Battlewagon attack! Most of all though it's always a great experience to play a good game in good company, without scrutinising every move as much as I normally might, or referring to the rulebook every 5 minutes! I find the Orks a particularly good army for playing 'fun' games with - it's easy to get into their character and the Codex is written in such a way that a straight out full frontal assault is seldom a bad tactic! Anyway that's all for now, hopefully we'll be able to set up another team battle some time soon.
